BEHIND THE MASK: Chapter one: The Stain

POV: Jack Brewer

It was a cold night. Unnaturally so for California. I stared ahead of me, not letting anything distract me. I brushed past several night-shoppers as I walked briskly through the streets of Seaford, my mind intent on one thing, and one thing only.

Earlier that afternoon, Ty, the stupid sensei from the Black Dragons had cheated before a match by attacking Kim when she was at home, getting ready for the tournament. She hadn't been unable to take him on by herself and was badly injured. He had broken her leg and bruised her ribs, knocking her unconscious.

My mind went back to that moment. I had gone over to her house to walk her to the dojo since her parents were out of town. I had let myself in, as I always did, and was looking for her everywhere. I finally went up to her room and found her unconscious on the bathroom floor, wearing nothing but tears and bruises.

"Kim!" I had cried, running to her side and staring at her. She hadn't moved. I took a towel and put it over her, careful to maintain her privacy as I turned her onto her back. She was pale. It was then that I looked her over and saw the swelling in her shin. I had wrapped her up carefully; then ran out to look for a phone.

My mind swooped back to the present. I was at the Black Dragons now. I burst through the doors, my face twisted in anger. "What are you doing here?" Ty had asked. "Save it, Ty!" I had growled at him. "I know what you did." He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Oh really? What did I do?" He asked.

I looked around his dojo, it was late, so he was the only one here. "You hurt Kim!" I cried, kicking at him. He dodged and swung a fist. I caught it and twisted his arm back. He elbowed me to the face. I did a side-jump over his back and kicked him where it counted. He whimpered and fell over. I pounced on him, punching. He rolled over so that he was on top of me, now the one driving all the punches. I caught his hands and threw him back. I jumped up and went after him.

He pulled a knife out. "Back off!" he told me. I tried to kick the knife out of his hand, but he was too fast. He pulled back so I would miss, then swiped, cutting my leg. I cried out in pain and leaped back. "COWARD!" I shrieked at him. "Put that down and fight me like a man!"

He laughed. "What's the matter? Afraid of a knife?" he grinned. "ARGHH!" I screamed, running at him. His eyes widened and he tried to stab at me. I punched his arm out of the way and the knife fell somewhere on the floor. I kicked him and he fell back. We rolled around, struggling. I felt my hand grasp something and I took hold of it, thinking I could hit Ty with whatever it was. I did, several times and he stopped moving.

I panted and stood up. I stared down at his still form. "Get up." I hissed, nudging him roughly with my foot. He didn't move. A good bit of blood had settled around him. I cocked my head, panting. His chest wasn't moving. I stared at him, shock slowly taking over. Was he…? NO! He couldn't be… I stared down at the knife in my hands.

I looked at myself. His blood was splattered all over me. "NO!" I cried, dropping the knife, I leaped back, desperately rubbing at the blood to try to get it off. It only smeared it in more. I stared at my hands, stained red.

"No… no, NO!" I ran out of the dojo. I ran harder and faster than I ever had. My fists pumping at my sides. I didn't stop running until I came to the spot I had come to know as my own. It was a garden outside the Seaford mall where I sat when I was depressed.

I slid to a halt, falling down on my knees almost before I was fully stopped. I doubled over, crying out my frustration. I made fists in the air beside my head; then slammed them down in the dirt, uncurling my fingers, then making fists around the soil.

I sobbed my troubles into the ground, sitting up and viciously throwing my fistfuls of dirt. I sat back, panting, my head thrown back, my eyes closed, my arms limp at my sides, my fingers curling and uncurling. I swallowed hard, trying to calm down.

I started thinking clearly again. I needed to get back to Ty. There was a chance he was still alive. I hadn't actually checked his pulse. I had just freaked out by all the blood all over me and the ground.

I slowly stood, my heart still pounding relentlessly. I knew that if he were still alive, he wouldn't be for long, so I made myself run back to him, ignoring the strange looks the random strangers gave me.

Only then, when I was thinking as the crow flies, did I realize how long a distance it was from 'my spot' to the Black Dragon. By the time I got back, I was wheezing, wishing I had my inhaler. But the chance of Ty still being alive drove me on; and I didn't stop to rest.

I went straight to his still form, which hadn't moved since I'd left. I kneeled down beside him, not at all wanting to face the fact that he may be dead. I could just leave him and wash his blood off my hands and forget about it. But no, not me, I was better than that. I would face this like a man.

I didn't stop to think how unfair it was that I was forced to do something no fourteen-year-old ever should. I was forced to shove a motionless body onto its back, forced to stare at the deep stab wounds on a man's chest caused by my own two hands. Forced to raise a trembling hand to his temple. And worst of all, forced to accept that I'd killed a man.

POV: Rudy Gillespie (the next day, 2:00pm)

"Hey Kim, how are you feeling?" I asked. Kim smiled and hobbled over to me on crutches. "Okay." She told me. "The doctors wanted me to stay longer, but I hate hospitals, so I begged my mom to sign the papers so I could come home, oh that's right, my parents are back from Nevada." She told me. I looked at her sternly. "Shouldn't you be at home, resting?" I asked. "I can relax here just as well as I could at home." She told me, sitting down on the stack of mats.

"Okay, so long as your parents are okay with it." I told her, walking back to the office. "Oh, and when Jack comes in, can you get him to help Milton with his back-kick?" I asked. "Sure." She replied. "Thanks." I went back to my office.

Still Rudy (five hours later)

I was in the middle of some paper-work when I heard some commotion outside. I came out, staring at the entire of the Black Dragons, the only person I didn't see was Ty. "Hey! What's going on here?" I cried, walking into the middle of a heated argument between dojo's.

Frank came over to me. "Have you seen Ty?!" He cried. "..no…" I began. "He's missing! And we think he was murdered!" He cried, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "What do we do?!" He cried. "Whoa! Slow down! What do you mean, 'missing' When's the last time you've seen him? And what in the world makes you think that?!" I cried.

"Yesterday, when the dojo closed. We've been waiting for him all day! He specifically told us the dojo was going to be open today!" He cried. "The doors were locked, but we finally were able to pick it and went in. There was a ton of blood all over the mats and it was streaked all over the floor as if he was dragged!" Frank cried, blubbering.

"Show me!" I told him. All the kids followed us as the shaken boy led me over to the Black Dragon. We stepped inside, and I could taste something strong in the air, it was metallic and salty. I knew why when we stepped around the corner. As he had described, there was literally tons of blood on the floor. I told the kids to stay back, and had Frank come with me as we followed the trail of blood.

It led to the back exit. I opened the door. Frank was hanging on my arm like a frightened child which, at the moment, he indeed was.

I peered out the door. The trail had become thinner, but was still visible. We followed it down the alleyway to a dumpster. "Frank," I turned to the shaking boy. "You may not want to look." I told him. He nodded and took a step back. I put my foot up on a grove and hoisted myself up so I could look down in the dumpster.

What I saw was revolting, and I will carry it in my nightmares. I jumped back down. "Come on, we need to call the police." I told him.

POV: Jack Brewer (same day)

I tried to keep a low profile that day, walking around with my head down. After I had gone back and found Ty dead, I had freaked out and did the only thing I could think to do. Get rid of the body. But I had been sloppy. I hadn't cleaned the blood on the mats, or the trail that led to the dumpster. Truth is, I was too scared of being caught if I took the time to do that.

After I had thrown Ty away like he was garbage, seemingly forgetting he had been a human being, I had raced home through the least populated part of Seaford I could find.

When I got home, I immediately ran upstairs and jumped in the shower, clothes and all, trying to get rid of the stains.I had stared at the tub floor, watching the red water drain.

I couldn't believe it. I was a murderer! What was I going to do? The honest part of me –which is 99% of me- wanted to tell Rudy what had happened and get him to help me tell the police. After all, it had been an accident. But a murder nonetheless.

I had jumped out of the shower, forgetting to turn the water off as I slugged into bed, dripping wet. I hadn't even tried to dry off.

By the time I woke, it was morning, and my bed was soggy.

I sighed and stared at the sky. What should I do…? The longer I let this wait, the more guilty it would make me seem. I should have run to Rudy right away and told him, or called 911. I hit my head. Of course! I should have called 911! Now it definitely seemed I had intended on killing Ty, being that I disposed of his corpse.

I ran my hands through my messy hair. What in the name of all that is holy, righteous and pure was I going to do? I had freaked out and got rid of him, when what I should have done was tell Rudy what had happened! I needed to find him. I would go now.

I stood up and headed for the dojo, making sure to never have eye contact with anyone at any point in time. While I was walking, someone bumped me. I stumbled, glaring back at them, they were already lost in the crowd. I stood up and brushed myself off, then noticed something on my arm. I plucked it off. It was a note.

I saw what you did!

My heart nearly exploded when I read that line. The ink was blood red and thick, not completely dry. I took one of my hands off it and rubbed my fingers together, the thick redness was all over them. It reminded me of… NO!

I looked at it closer. It was blood! I stuffed the note in my pocket and headed for the nearest public bathroom. I held my hands under the water for at least ten minutes as I washed the blood from my hands for the second time in two days.

I walked out, my hands still dripping. Now I was really in trouble. I wrung my hands and scanned the crowd, I saw no one who paid particular attention to me. I pulled out the note, careful to hold it by it's edges and read it again. It was slightly smeared, but still readable. I turned it over.

Meet me at Hell Creek, 1245 Pinerow.

It didn't give a time. I sighed. Might as well go now. I stuffed the bloody thing back in my pocket and headed for Pinerow. I remembered where it was from a few weeks ago, we had been going door-to-door handing out Wasabi Warriors flyers for the upcoming match.

My heart ached just thinking about the match. All this had started over the stupid match! Why did Ty have to cheat? Why did I go there to confront him? Because I was protecting a friend. But why did he have to pull out that knife? The fight would have ended differently if he hadn't pulled the knife…

I stopped arguing with myself when I reached Pinerow. Now… where was Hell Creek…? I remembered the number, 1245 Pinerow. I looked at the number on the closest house to me. It was 1260. I back tracked a little, down a different road until I reached the gate with 1245 on it. I grabbed the bars to the gate and looked through. It was a mansion, and a rundown one at that. It was just plain creepy.

I was small enough to slip through the bars, thank heavens; I wasn't about to attempt unlatching the rusty thing. I walked timidly down the brick pathway that was grown over with vines and weeds, and a lot of bricks were upturned and out of place. I put on a bravado that I didn't feel.

I stopped at the porch, which was rotting and falling apart. I looked around. I wasn't about to go inside this dump. "Hello?" I called quietly. The door creaked open. I spun around and stared. No one stood in the doorway. I ignored my heart as it thumped against my chest. I felt my stomach churning, and for some reason, I felt tingling in my hands.

I carefully put one foot in front of the other as I crossed the rotting porch. I fell when my foot went through a board. I expected my leg to snap when it hit the solid ground beneath the porch, but my leg hit nothing. I struggled, trying to pull myself up.

I felt the wood splintering under my weight. I stopped, staring at the wood. I carefully pulled my leg up and stepped over the hole, looking back down in the new hole I'd made. I gaped at what I saw.

I was unable to accept what I'd seen without getting down on my stomach and staring down into the hole.

Beneath the porch, was a cell. A cell full of bones and skulls. I swallowed hard. What was I getting myself into?

I pushed myself back up, hurrying the rest of the way across the porch. I stepped inside. The floor here was more solid, thank heavens. I looked around. The room smelled stale, and everything was filthy. I heard the door slam behind me. I spun around to see a figure standing there, arms folded, wearing a mask.

Their clothes were baggy in certain places and tight fitting in others, and the mask was black with strange symbols all over it.

Not sure what to expect, I got into a fighting stance. The person –I'm pretty sure a girl- sauntered over to me, looking me over. I couldn't see any part of their face. She –again, pretty sure female- was shorter than I was. She uncrossed her arms and I confirmed that she was indeed a girl. "Come with me." The voice sounded distorted, as if created by a voice synthesizer.

I followed her. Now seeing her back, I saw a long bit of black hair protruding from a hole in the back of the full-head mask. She led me into a room where several other people sat, all decked out in the same identity concealing garb.

"What do you want with me?" I asked. The leader –I could tell because their clothes were a little different from the rest- The person came over to stare at me through the mask. The markings on their mask were red, and so was their sash and the cuffs on their sleeves. The rest of them was black.

"Jack Brewer?" The person's voice was also twisted by a synthesizer. "Maybe, who needs to know?" I asked, my eyes scanning the others in the room. They all had their arms crossed. I looked back up at the red one. "I do." He replied –figured was a dude, tall, no curves- I shrugged. "I might be." I told him. "Stop playing around, kid, I know who you are." He replied in the same synthesized voice.

"Then why did you ask?" I unfolded my arms. "To see what you would say." I blinked. "Okay…" I looked around. "What do you want with me?" I asked again. The man turned and put an arm over my shoulder. "Look around you, Jack." He told me. I did. The place was a dump, no matter how many times you looked at it. I looked back up at him. "Welcome to The Mask Force." I pulled away from him, not amused by the pun, 'mask force' and 'task force'

"What do you mean, 'welcome to'?" I demanded. "Well, you have two choices, Jack. Blood saw you kill that man, and she's willing to testify against you in the court of the law." He told me, gesturing to the girl who had led me in. I looked over at her. She was staring at me. I swallowed. Were they trying to force me to join? Yes, the answer was yes.

"You're new name is Stain. Pain! Get him some clothes!" he told another of The Mask Force members. The person brought me one of their black suits. I hesitantly took it and put it on. I put on the mask and stared at myself in a mirror. What had I gotten myself into?

(A/N: I know the beginning is sort of rushed, sorry about that. I'm not really sure if I should continue... [lease let me know if you think I should! REVIEW!